Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Slime is back!!!

Anyone who grew up with classic Nickelodeon programming during the 80s is very familiar with slime. It was, and still is one of the key elements of the Nick brand.

Many of us will never forget our first introduction to the substance during Nick's "You Can't do that on Television". The show was a Canadian production which got picked up for US broadcasts by Nickelodeon during the early days of the network.

When someone said "I don't know", green slime would pour on them from above. This became known as being "slimed." The first time in which "I don't know" was used as a trigger phrase for the green slime was one of the local episodes seen only in Canada and broadcast on March 17, 1979 - fittingly, St. Patrick's Day

For many years, the slime consisted of a mixture of lime green gelatin powder and flour; eventually, oatmeal was added to the recipe, as was baby shampoo so that it would wash out of the actors' hair more easily.

Nickelodeon quickly adopted "slime" as a feature in several shows it produced, and used it heavily in its marketing.

Mattel had already introduced a toy in the late 70s which sold in plastic cans and was also called Slime, but it wasn't until "You can't do that on television" and other Nickelodeon shows such as "Double Dare" popularized the green goo that kids everywhere became obsessed with the product.

Mattel's Slime (released in 1976)

Starting up in 1986 Double Dare took slime to new heights. Throughout the show's run gallons of slime got poured during the multiple physical challenges.

Now the folks at Jakks Pacific -- who over the years have put out some pretty cool outdoor toys as well as the great Rocky action figure line from 2006 -- are bringing Slime back with a vengeance.

Not only it the green goo back, but this time its accompanied by a wide assortment of gadgets including a Slime Ball which you can bounce and throw against the wall.

There's also a sprayer called the Super Slimer which can shoot a mixture of watered down slime up to 25 feet away.

The slime is currently available in smaller 8 ounce canisters as well as in a 30 ounce bucket.

I just picked up one of these bad boys at Target and let me tell you it's just as good as the original substance we all grew up with during the 80s.The 90s brought a lot of variations to slime, like the thicker Gak produced by Mattel.I wasn't as big a fan of those as I was of the gooey classic slime.

I hope Jakks continues to put out more Slime and classic Nick inspired products.During ToyFair 2008 they also announced plans for a game called the SLIME! Time Splatter. According to Jakks you can insert a slime tablet with water into the center of the Timer Toss pod. Set the timer and throw the SLIME!-filled pod back and forth with a friend…whoever has it when the timer goes off gets slimed! I'm looking forward to this one since it's pretty much in the same vein as "Splash Out", a game put out by Galoob in the 80's which used water ballons inside a pod.Back in the early 90's Mattel put out some pretty awesome toys based on the Nick brand including Slime, The Flash Screen, and my favorite: the water powered Nick Blimp -- which I had and loved until it got popped after a rough landing on the backyard lawn.Hopefully Jakks will continue this tradition and expand their line to include more nick paraphernalia. Fans of classic Nick are in desperate need of an old school fix since the sudden cancellation of the Nick Rewind Collection brand of accessories and DVD releases. Hopefully we won't be let down this time.

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Join the Nostalgic G - Mac Daddy Supreme of the Nostalgia Factory, as he keeps it real and Kicks it old School while reminiscing about the flicks, shows, toys, and bling that made childhood in the 80s glorious.